After Sena chief Bal Thackeray criticised Tendulkar for saying that "Mumbai is for all Indians", his party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut questioned the veteran batsman's contribution to Maharashtra in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna'.

Comparing Tendulkar and fellow Mumbaikar Sunil Gavaskar, Raut said, "There has been no instance of Sachin extending a helping hand to other Marathi cricketers. Forget others, he did not even support Vinod Kambli."

"In contrast, Gavaskar when he captained India, had half the team drawn from Mumbai and Maharashtra. He gave Test caps to many Marathi players including Suru Naik and Zulphikar Parkar at least for one match," he said.

Shukla ridiculed the latest attack, saying, "Since Thackeray has restrained himself from writing anything against Sachin Tendulkar, his newspaper's editor Sanjay Raut, who is also my colleague in Rajya Sabha, has started."

"I think he should realise that by criticising Tendulkar, he is only harming his own party. Whatever he says against Tendulkar will reduce his party's votebank in Maharashtra because no Maharashtrian is liking what they are saying," he said.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and BCCI's Finance Committee chairman Rajeev Shukla ridiculed Shiv Sena's latest verbal attack on senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, saying the party was only harming its own image by criticising the revered cricketer.